血管造影图像序列中冠状动脉的三维运动估计

提出了由两个角度的单面血管造影图像序列估计冠状动脉骨架树三维运动的算法。首先对冠状动脉造影图像序列进行二维预处理和二维运动估计。然后根据冠脉造影系统的透视投影模型得到两幅不同角度的造影图像之间的几何变换关系，以及空间点三维坐标的计算方法。最后，在对整个图像序列进行分析的过程中，将三维运动估计与重建结合起来，得到各骨架点的三维运动向量。采用临床得到的冠状动脉造影图像序列对算法进行了验证，并分析了误差源。     

变形模型在冠状动脉二维运动跟踪中的应用

本文提出一种采用变形模型对X射线造影图像序列中的冠状动脉血管进行运动跟踪的方法.首先采用多尺度高斯滤波对造影图像序列进行预处理,将血管区域从背景中提取出来,灰度图像被转化成二值图像.然后,采用改进的离散活动轮廓模型对图像序列进行感兴趣血管段的运动跟踪,其中模型的初始位置是自动获取的.通过在外部能量中引入对端点的灰度相似度和对中间点的运动相似度的测量,有效地避免了模型沿血管收缩或漂移的现象.同时为了保证模型的连续性和光滑性,降低变形结果对权重参数的敏感性,在每次变形结束后对模型进行重新采样.对临床得到的造影序列进行了实验,结果证明了方法的可行性.     

ICUS图像序列中冠状动脉的三维重建和形态测量

针对冠状动脉内超声(ICUS)图像序列中血管的三维重建问题,提出一种从连续回撒超声导管获取的、覆盖多个心动周期的ICUS序列中准确重建冠脉血管、并定量测量其形态结构参数的方法.首先利用在导管回撤路径起点采集的两幅近似垂直的X射线冠脉造影(CAG)图像之间的交叉信息,重建出导管的回撤路径,然后从各帧ICUS图像中提取出血管壁的内外轮廓;在对ICUS序列中由心脏运动所致的运动伪影进行补偿之后,选择出在各心动周期的同一时相处采集的ICUS帧,并将其沿三维导管路径顺序排列;最后采用NURBS曲面拟合技术,完成血管的三维重建.根据该三维血管模型,对临床重要的血管形态参数进行测量,采用临床图像数据进行验证.实验结果证明,较之仅采用CAG图像或ICUS序列重建出的血管模型的测量结果,该方法更为精确.     

冠状动脉血管的二维提取和运动跟踪

提出了一种基于图像脊提取和snake模型的复合式方法来实现X射线造影图像序列中冠状动脉血管的二维提取和运动跟踪,并分别对临床采集图像序列和模拟图像进行了实验.结果说明,与经典模型相比本算法自动化程度和精度都提高许多.     

一种基于超声造影剂的血管灌注区域的提取方法

子宫肌瘤超声造影图像中的血管灌注分布提供了有用的病理和生理信息,提取出血管灌注区域有助于量化评价子宫肌瘤的血供情况。血管灌注区域像素灰度变化有别于其它区域,本文因此提出一种提取肌瘤中血管灌注区域的方法。首先对图像序列进行去噪处理,接着采用Brox光流法对相邻两帧图像进行运动估计,根据得出的位移场作warp运动校正,最后根据超声造影图像序列中富血供区域与乏血供区域图像信号的差异,从周围背景中提取出血管灌注区域。实验结果表明,本文算法能精确地提取出血管灌注区域,可达到临床对灌注区域识别的精度,且计算量小,实现简单。     

基于Hessian矩阵的DSA图像冠状动脉直径的测量

【摘要】目的:通过对冠状动脉血管的数字减影血管造影技术（DSA）图像进行分析处理,得到血管的骨架与中心线,从而实现血管直径测量。方法:采用MATLAB语言进行图像处理,在对DSA图像平滑及均衡化处理后,得到血管的骨架与中心线。以Hessian矩阵的特征向量为参考方向,做与血管垂直的直线,利用该直线与血管骨架的两个交点求得血管直径。结果:实现冠状动脉血管中心线、骨架的自动提取和冠状动脉血管直径的自动测量。结论:对于随机抽取的DSA图像,该方法均取得理想的冠状动脉血管中心线与骨架,以及精确的冠状动脉血管直径数值,可为操作人员提供丰富的信息,具有一定的实用价值。     

心血管的运动分析及符号描述

本文根据由造影图像序列提取出的心血管结构及运动参数,结合心脏解剖和运动的先验知识,对血管的形态和结构及其运动和变形进行定性的分析,包括血管的位置、运动的幅值和方向、运动形式等,并将分析结果采用符号表达,方便医生的观察和分析,为发现心脏的异常运动并确定其功能特性提供支持.     

基于投影图像和CT容积图像的三维冠状动脉运动跟踪新方法

目的利用双平面X射线投影图像序列和参考CT容积图像进行冠状动脉的三维运动跟踪建模。方法①提取投影图像序列中的冠状动脉树;②利用多尺度滤波和血管函数提取CT容积图像中的动脉血管;③采用基于B样条配准的方法进行三维运动建模。结果将双投影图像中血管的运动估计结果的三维重建形态与三维运动模型预测出的结果进行了量化比较,调整配准的B样条参数后,两者误差处于有效范围之内。结论由此表明采用投影图像和对应容积图像的联合先验知识进行冠状动脉的三维运动建模是有效的。     

心血管造影图像中的心血管提取

利用心血管造影图像质量描述心血管病变和重建三维心血管，首要任务是将造影图像中的心血管表述成单个象素宽的心血管骨架，而心血管的提取又是心血管骨架提取和决定其提取准确性的关键。首先采用了旋转高斯函数对图像进行增强。然后提出了自适应跟踪圆模板对增强后的心血管图像进行心血管提取。该提取方法与以往的提取方法相比，鲁棒性增强，为心血管骨架提取、心血管病变的定量描述和心血管三维重建奠定了基础。     

基于CAG三维重建与超声图像的数据融合研究

临床中,融合X射线造影图像和血管内超声图像可以辅助医生更好的对冠心病进行诊断.本研究在X射线造影系统中对导引丝和血管骨架分别三维重建的基础上,利用最佳垂平面法求得导引丝序列点的最佳切向量,首先对超声图像在导引丝上定位,然后根据造影图像与超声图像提供的导引丝和血管骨架的空间关系求得超声图像的偏心角,最后利用四元数法对超声图像在导引丝上进行准确的定向.通过临床数据进行实验表明了该方法的可行性.相对于传统的融合方法,该方法不仅实现了超声图像空间角度的确定,而且具有实现简单、计算速度快等特点.     

Towards dynamic cardiac scenes interpretation based on spatial-temporal knowledge

Cardiac motion analysis enables to identify pathologies related to myocardial anomalies or coronary arteries circulation deficiencies. Conventionally, bi-dimensional (2D) left ventricle contour images have been extensively used, to perform quantitative measurements and qualitative evaluations of the cardiac function. Nevertheless, there are other cardiac anatomical structures, the coronary arteries, imaged on routine procedures, upon which complementary motion interpretation can be conducted. This paper presents an experimental methodology to perform dynamic cardiac scenes interpretation, studying three-dimensional (3D) coronary arteries spatial-temporal behavior. Being an alternative way to approach computer assisted cardiac motion interpretation, it reveals a wide range of rarely explored spatial-temporal situations and proposes how to address them. Considering the challenges to achieve dynamic scene interpretation, it is explained how spatial and temporal knowledge, are connected to specialist knowledge and measured parameters, to obtain a dynamic scene interpretation. Global and local motion features are modeled according to cardiac motion and geometrical knowledge, before its transformation into symbols. Anatomical knowledge and spatial-temporal knowledge are applied, along with spatial-temporal reasoning schemes, to access symbols meaning. Experimental results obtained using real data are presented. Complexity of interpretation envisioning is discussed, taking the given results as an example.     

基于活动轮廓模型的冠状动脉血管段运动跟踪

提出一种新的冠状动脉血管二维运动分析方法,采用活动轮廓(snake)模型技术,对X射线冠状动脉造影图像序列中的血管段进行运动跟踪。把前一帧中snake的停留位置作为当前帧snake的初始位置,通过snake变形得到当前时刻的血管中心线。通过在snake能量函数中嵌入灰度相似度匹配,保证了跟踪结果的准确性。采用临床采集的冠脉造影图像序列对算法进行了验证。     

Angle-independent measure of motion for image-based gating in 3D coronary angiography

The role of three-dimensional (3D) image guidance for interventional procedures and minimally invasive surgeries is increasing for the treatment of vascular disease. Currently, most interventional procedures are guided by two-dimensional x-ray angiography, but computed rotational angiography has the potential to provide 3D geometric information about the coronary arteries. The creation of 3D angiographic images of the coronary arteries requires synchronization of data acquisition with respect to the cardiac cycle, in order to minimize motion artifacts. This can be achieved by inferring the extent of motion from a patient's electrocardiogram (ECG) signal. However, a direct measurement of motion (from the 2D angiograms) has the potential to improve the 3D angiographic images by ensuring that only projections acquired during periods of minimal motion are included in the reconstruction. This paper presents an image-based metric for measuring the extent of motion in 2D x-ray angiographic images. Adaptive histogram equalization was applied to projection images to increase the sharpness of coronary arteries and the superior-inferior component of the weighted centroid (SIC) was measured. The SIC constitutes an image-based metric that can be used to track vessel motion, independent of apparent motion induced by the rotational acquisition. To evaluate the technique, six consecutive patients scheduled for routine coronary angiography procedures were studied. We compared the end of the SIC rest period (rho) to R-waves (R) detected in the patient's ECG and found a mean difference of 14 +/- 80 ms. Two simultaneous angular positions were acquired and rho was detected for each position. There was no statistically significant difference (P = 0.79) between rho in the two simultaneously acquired angular positions. Thus we have shown the SIC to be independent of view angle, which is critical for rotational angiography. A preliminary image-based gating strategy that employed the SIC was compared to an ECG-based gating strategy in a porcine model. The image-based gating strategy selected 61 projection images, compared to 45 selected by the ECG-gating strategy. Qualitative comparison revealed that although both the SIC-based and ECG-gated reconstructions decreased motion artifact compared to reconstruction with no gating, the SIC-based gating technique increased the conspicuity of smaller vessels when compared to ECG gating in maximum intensity projections of the reconstructions and increased the sharpness of a vessel cross section in multi-planar reformats of the reconstruction.     

On-board four-dimensional digital tomosynthesis: first experimental results

The purpose of this study is to propose four-dimensional digital tomosynthesis (4D-DTS) for on-board analysis of motion information in three dimensions. Images of a dynamic motion phantom were reconstructed using acquisition scan angles ranging from 20 degrees (DTS) to full 360 degrees cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Projection images were acquired using an on-board imager mounted on a clinical linear accelerator. Three-dimensional (3D) images of the moving target were reconstructed for various scan angles. 3D respiratory correlated phase images were also reconstructed. For phase-based image reconstructions, the trajectory of a radiopaque marker was tracked in projection space and used to retrospectively assign respiratory phases to projections. The projections were then sorted according phase and used to reconstruct motion correlated images. By using two sets of projections centered about anterior-posterior and lateral axes, this study demonstrates how phase resolved coronal and sagittal DTS images can be used to obtain 3D motion information. Motion artifacts in 4D-DTS phase images are compared with those present in four-dimensional CT (4DCT) images. Due to the nature of data acquisition for the two modalities, superior-inferior motion artifacts are suppressed to a greater extent in 4D-DTS images compared with 4DCT. Theoretical derivations and experimental results are presented to demonstrate how optimal selection of image acquisition parameters including the frequency of projection acquisition and the phase window depend on the respiratory period. Two methods for acquiring projections are discussed. Preliminary results indicate that 4D-DTS can be used to acquire valuable kinetic information of internal anatomy just prior to radiation treatment.     

Rest period duration of the coronary arteries: implications for magnetic resonance coronary angiography

Magnetic resonance (MR) and computed tomography coronary imaging is susceptible to artifacts caused by motion of the heart. The presence of rest periods during the cardiac and respiratory cycles suggests that images free of motion artifacts could be acquired. In this paper, we studied the rest period (RP) duration of the coronary arteries during a cardiac contraction and a tidal respiratory cycle. We also studied whether three MR motion correction methods could be used to increase the respiratory RP duration. Free breathing x-ray coronary angiograms were acquired in ten patients. The three-dimensional (3D) structure of the coronary arteries was reconstructed from a biplane acquisition using stereo reconstruction methods. The 3D motion of the arterial model was then recovered using an automatic motion tracking algorithm. The motion field was then decomposed into separate cardiac and respiratory components using a cardiac respiratory parametric model. For the proximal-to-middle segments of the right coronary artery (RCA), a cardiac RP (<1 mm 3D displacement) of 76+/-34 ms was measured at end systole (ES), and 65+/-42 ms in mid-diastole (MD). The cardiac RP was 80+/-25 ms at ES and 112+/-42 ms at MD for the proximal 5 cm of the left coronary tree. At end expiration, the respiratory RP (in percent of the respiratory period) was 26+/-8% for the RCA and 27+/-17% for the left coronary tree. Left coronary respiratory RP (<0.5 mm 3D displacement) increased with translation (32% of the respiratory period), rigid body (51%), and affine (79%) motion correction. The RCA respiratory RP using translational (27%) and rigid body (33%) motion correction were not statistically different from each other. Measurements of the cardiac and respiratory rest periods will improve our understanding of the temporal and spatial resolution constraints for coronary imaging.     

MR Image-Based Geometric and Hemodynamic Investigation of the Right Coronary Artery with Dynamic Vessel Motion

The aim of this study was to develop a fully subject-specific model of the right coronary artery (RCA), including dynamic vessel motion, for computational analysis to assess the effects of cardiac-induced motion on hemodynamics and resulting wall shear stress (WSS). Vascular geometries were acquired in the right coronary artery (RCA) of a healthy volunteer using a navigator-gated interleaved spiral sequence at 14 time points during the cardiac cycle. A high temporal resolution velocity waveform was also acquired in the proximal region. Cardiac-induced dynamic vessel motion was calculated by interpolating the geometries with an active contour model and a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation with fully subject-specific information was carried out using this model. The results showed the expected variation of vessel radius and curvature throughout the cardiac cycle, and also revealed that dynamic motion of the right coronary artery consequent to cardiac motion had significant effects on instantaneous WSS and oscillatory shear index. Subject-specific MRI-based CFD is feasible and, if scan duration could be shortened, this method may have potential as a non-invasive tool to investigate the physiological and pathological role of hemodynamics in human coronary arteries.     

Development of a model of the coronary arterial tree for the 4D XCAT phantom

A detailed three-dimensional (3D) model of the coronary artery tree with cardiac motion has great potential for applications in a wide variety of medical imaging research areas. In this work, we first developed a computer-generated 3D model of the coronary arterial tree for the heart in the extended cardiac-torso (XCAT) phantom, thereby creating a realistic computer model of the human anatomy. The coronary arterial tree model was based on two datasets: (1) a gated cardiac dual-source computed tomography (CT) angiographic dataset obtained from a normal human subject and (2) statistical morphometric data of porcine hearts. The initial proximal segments of the vasculature and the anatomical details of the boundaries of the ventricles were defined by segmenting the CT data. An iterative rule-based generation method was developed and applied to extend the coronary arterial tree beyond the initial proximal segments. The algorithm was governed by three factors: (1) statistical morphometric measurements of the connectivity, lengths and diameters of the arterial segments; (2) avoidance forces from other vessel segments and the boundaries of the myocardium, and (3) optimality principles which minimize the drag force at the bifurcations of the generated tree. Using this algorithm, the 3D computational model of the largest six orders of the coronary arterial tree was generated, which spread across the myocardium of the left and right ventricles. The 3D coronary arterial tree model was then extended to 4D to simulate different cardiac phases by deforming the original 3D model according to the motion vector map of the 4D cardiac model of the XCAT phantom at the corresponding phases. As a result, a detailed and realistic 4D model of the coronary arterial tree was developed for the XCAT phantom by imposing constraints of anatomical and physiological characteristics of the coronary vasculature. This new 4D coronary artery tree model provides a unique simulation tool that can be used in the development and evaluation of instrumentation and methods for imaging normal and pathological hearts with myocardial perfusion defects.